Guest editor, “Miss Indian Pageants in the West,” Journal of the West 52, no. 3 (Summer 2013).

This article, “Miss Indian BYU: Contestation Over the Crown and Indian Identity,” examines the history and experiences of the Miss Indian BYU Pageant, which was cancelled in 2007 (but recently re-started). After being crowned as Miss Indian BYU and interviewing numerous former Miss Indian BYUs, Farina King offers key insights into the meaning and experience of Miss Indian pageants in the twentieth century.

King situates the Miss Indian BYU Pageant in the Pan-Indian trend of Miss Indian pageants and titles, while also emphasizing the distinct role that Miss Indian BYU played as a representative of Latter-day Saint American Indians. She primarily uses her experience and oral histories of former Miss Indian BYU Pageant contestants and participants to illustrate how Miss Indian pageants set certain definitions and qualifications of Indianness.

The article traces the origins of the pageant in the 1960s, its first indefinite cancellation in the 1990s, and then its cancellation in 2007 when leaders of the Tribe of Many Feathers, the Native American student organization at Brigham Young University, claimed that the pageant did not have enough “qualified” candidates. The history of the pageant and experiences of its participants parallel official directions of the LDS Church towards American Indians but also certain national movements of American Indian youth and claims to Indianness since the mid-twentieth century.

Farina King writes about her experiences in the Miss Indian BYU Pageant of 2006 as portrayed partly in this video.

Books in Progress:

“The Earth Memory Compass: Diné Landscapes and Education in the Twentieth Century,” forthcoming book manuscript under contract with University Press of Kansas (2018).

“Gáamalii dóó Diné: Navajo Mormons in the Twentieth Century,” book manuscript in preparation for review.

Articles in Progress:

“Intergenerational Ties: Diné Memories of the Crownpoint Boarding School during the 1960s,” article manuscript under review.